New Delhi: Four domestic carriers have
suspended cargo operations from today to protest against
alleged "unfair practices" by the outsourced cargo service
agency and the airport operator.

"Since neither DIAL nor the outsourced agency are
listening to our problems, we have decided to suspend our
cargo operations from this afternoon," an airlines official at
the cargo terminal said.

From May 1, Kingfisher, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir
have shifted their cargo operations from domestic terminal to
cargo terminal, while Air India and Jet Airways have been
allowed to operate from their own warehouses at domestic
terminal.

"But here, there is neither infrastructure nor the
manpower to handle the cargo operations," the official said
alleging that we have been telling the Delhi Cargo Service
Centre (DCSC), to which airport operator Delhi International
Airport Limited (DIAL) have outsourced the operations "but
nothing happened".

The four airlines have alleged that by shifting them
to cargo terminal they were not given a "level field", as Jet
and AI would have an advantage of booking or delivering the
cargo within an hour but they cannot book a cargo 30 minutes
before the departure of flights, which they used to do
earlier.

"Also the charges, at cargo terminal is high. We have
to levy an additional charge of Rs 3 per kg, above Rs 18 per
kg of cargo charges, these are exorbitant and would deter
those will like to book cargo with us," the official said.

The DCSC is charging us at the rates of Bangalore and
Hyderabad airports, which are new airports but the Delhi
airport is the existing one, so it is totally "unjustified",
he added.

Terming it an "unfair practice", the airlines have
also written to Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA)
in this regard.

The other problems which airlines are facing is that
of the shifting of cargo from warehouse to the aircraft.

Earlier, these airlines claimed that they were using
tractor-trollies to shift the cargo to aircraft but now they
have to use trucks and then there are a lot of hassles in
getting a security pass issued for the truck drivers, official
of another airlines said.

Alleging handlers were not capable of clearing the
cargo and delivering it, they said "earlier a cargo used to be
delivered within an hour but now it takes more than 12 hours."

"These issues are hampering our business. Until we are
heard and solution is chalked out, the four airlines have
decided not to accept the cargo," the official said.